SO, WHAT DO YOU “DO”?…

Recently I attended a high school graduation and ran into friends I hadn’t seen in many years. I had to answer the dreaded question, “What are you doing these days?” at least fifteen times in the space of an hour. Each time I gave a slightly different answer.

All of those things are true. But none of them would qualify as consistent, nine-to-five, full-time employment. The fact is that I haven’t had what most people would call a “real job” for the past two years.

In those moments of uncomfortable silence when I don’t have a ready response for people’s questions, I struggle with feelings of insecurity and worthlessness. I feel like I need to justify my life, proving my value by the things I produce, or by the dollar amounts on my paycheck.

My Heavenly Father tells me that my value lies not in what I do, but in whose I am. “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Romans 8:15, NAS).